Novembeb 10, 1888.] 



THE GABDENEBS' CHRONICLE. 



537 



actually been done. But it has been in great measure 

 subsidiary to the decorative work, which, of course, 

 has been neither useful nor interesting to horticul- 

 turists generally. All this hat, however, come to an 

 end, and there is now no administrative obstacle in the 

 way of devoting ( 'hiswick to any purpose by which 

 the interests proper of horticulture may be served. 



The present is undoubtedly the proper time to 

 approach the question. The past year has been in 

 every way a critical one in the fortunes of the 

 Society. It had to start in new quarters, and on 

 lines which were necessarily largely experimental and 

 tentative. It had to face a large defection of its 

 members, and it was sorely hampered with debt. 

 By the self-sacrificing exertions of a number of gen- 



into, but the problem, as a whole, has not been 

 faced. 



But the time has now arrived when this must be 

 done, if it is ever to be done at all. My object, 

 then is to raise a discussion of the whole subject. I 

 dare say it will be thought that I ought in the first 

 place to communicate my views to my fellow-members 

 ot Council rather than to your columns. But this is 

 a matter in which the Council can ouly act as our 

 executive. It must look to the general body of 

 Fellows and to the horticultural world to decide the 

 policy which in the future is to be pursued in the 

 management of the Chiswick garden. 



What that policy should be I myself have very 

 little doubt. Probablv, however, mv own views will 



Fig, 



-BEQOOTA SOCOTHANA J FLOWEBS PIXK, (SEE P. 534.) 



tlemen, some on the Council and some off it, the 

 Society has been pulled through. Its work has been 

 kept going in the new quarters, its debt has been paid 

 oil', and it has received a large accession of new 

 members. I do not pretend that all its arrange- 

 ments are still everything that can be desired — no 

 doubt they are not so ; but I challenge any fair- 

 minded man, looking at the retrospect of the year's 

 work, to say how any better result could have been 

 attained in the time. 



With the continuous work in the virtual recon- 

 struction of the Society which the Council has bad 

 before it, its meetings often lasting three hours at 

 a stretch, it was practically impossible that the 

 Chiswick problem could be radically dealt with. It 

 has not been neglected ; on the contrary, a va9t 

 amount of detailed administration has been gone 



not command universal consent — in horticulture, I 

 observe, that the views of any one person very seldom 

 do. Still, I propose to state them in order that they 

 may, if possible, elicit something better. For be it 

 observed what is wanted at the present moment is a 

 policy ; and if one can be framed, which will com- 

 mand the general assent of horticulturists, and be 

 in its essential features horticultural, I for my part 

 am quite prepared to accept it. 



My own policy, then, is for the Society to make 

 Chiswick a horticultural Kew. The latter establish- 

 ment is, by virtue of the conditions enforced by the 

 House of Commons when the Royal Gardens became 

 national, treated throughout from a botanical point 

 of view. There are large branches of horticulture 

 which are, therefore, altogether excluded from its 

 scope. Chiswick, in my view, in position and func- 



tions, should be treated as the natural complement 

 of Kew. Very likely this suggestion will at once 

 provoke an outcry. Very well ; but let us examine 

 it a little morp in detail. 



I do not know how it is with other people, but I 

 myself always feel, when I visit Chiswick, impressed 

 with its extreme dulness. There is the great vinery, 

 of course, and when the Grapes are ripe in the 

 autumn this is a beautiful spectacle. Then there are 

 the pyramid fruit trees, and the trials which happen 

 to be going on. But all these are very soon inspected, 

 and the eye searches in vain in going round the 

 garden for anything to excite and stimulate 

 interest. 



How is this to be remedied ? It seems to me that 

 if, instead of the botanical collections which we have 

 at Kew, an attempt were made to get up horticultural 

 collections, a great deal that would be extremely 

 novel and interesting to visitors might be shown in a 

 very small space. For example, two years ago we 

 grew a collection of Gourds at Kew, from seeds 

 obligingly given us by Mr. Barr. It was quite 

 remarkable how much interest they excited. At 

 Berlin, I am told, there is a Gourd garden which is 

 very much admired. Why, then, should not a 

 standard collection of every distinct kind of Gourd 

 be grown every year at Chiswick ? And if Gourds, 

 why not other kinds of vegetables ? My plan 

 would involve their growing in a scientific way with 

 proper labels all the distinct sorts of vegetables 

 described in Vilmorin-Andrieux's Lcs Plantes Pofa- 

 qires. And I would go farther ; with the horticul- 

 tural resources of Chiswick there should be no diffi- 

 culty in growing all the odd plants in Pailleux and 

 Bois' Lc Potager d'un curieux. This is what I mean 

 by making Chiswick a horticultural Kew. 1 would 

 make it the home of every sort of vegetable to be 

 found in European gardens. I am sure if intelligently 

 carried out that the plan would be found both in- 

 teresting and useful. I should like to see it carried 

 out at Kew, if it were possible ; but then it is not 



The annual trials of vegetables [and flowers] 

 should of course be continued ; and nothing could 

 be better than the astonishing collection of Tomatos 

 which Mr. Barron has so successfully cultivated this 

 year. But the results of these trials should be 

 promptly published in the Journa I of the Society. 



Another department which I would develope at 

 Chiswick is that of herbaceous plants. We grow at 

 Kew an enormous collection arranged in systematic 

 order for convenient access. We are often told that 

 the general effect is unsatisfactory. I cannot help 

 that. It is not contemplated that it should be other- 

 wise. At Chiswick this might, however, be 

 managed. The best herbaceous plants might be 

 "rown, so as to show them to the greatest possible 

 advantage. Again, in the case of those which have 

 been long known in gardens and have broken away 

 into numerous varieties, it is impossible for us at 

 Kew to grow more than a few select kinds. But at 

 Chiswick from time to time collections might be got 

 together— say, one year ofPffionies, another of Irises, 

 a third of Larkspurs, and so on. At Kew. moreover, 

 although we take great pains with our herbaceous 

 department, we do not always find it either 

 practicable or desirable to represent every given 

 species by its best horticultural form. This 

 need, however, present no difficulty at Chiswick. 

 The division of labour between the two establish- 

 ments is obvious; taking the same subject, one 

 would represent its botanical, its other the horticnl- 

 tural aspect. 



Chiswick has not now sufficient space to do much 

 in the way of hardy shrubs ; still it might do some- 

 thing with the best. And with its large area of 

 glass it might show in the way of greenhouse plants 

 everything that was new and fresh of purely horti- 

 cultural interest. The Fellows ought to be able to 

 see from time to time what is valuable, interesting 

 and novel ; they should have, in fact, a standard per- 

 manently put before them on which they could rely. 



As to fruit, I have little to suggest, except to 

 maintain and expand the existing collection. All 



